The United States has threatened to sanction buyers of Iranian oil and said it believes China will pause such purchases as Washington enforces a maritime blockade on Iran, Reuters reports.

“We have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House. China previously bought more than 80 per cent of Iran’s shipped oil.

“We believe (that with) this blockade … there will be a pause of Chinese buying,” Bessent said.

The US Treasury has also written to two Chinese banks and “told them that if we can prove that there is Iranian money flowing through your accounts, then we are willing to put on secondary sanctions”, he added.